


queens of an empire

by waveridden



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-18 12:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21661021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waveridden/pseuds/waveridden
Summary: Nothing is supposed to go wrong during the siege of Bright Moon. (A three-way roleswap.)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35
Collections: 2019 AU December Challenge





	queens of an empire

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is part of the AUcember series, a self-made challenge where I try to write a new AU one-shot every day. You can read all of the AUcember fics in the collection linked above. Title is from Stand Up by James Bay.

1.

Nothing is supposed to go wrong during the siege of Bright Moon.

“Oh, nothing’s supposed to go wrong,” Glimmer echoes, making a face at her. “Look at you, Force Captain, all high and mighty, you think nothing’s going to go wrong?”

“I think nothing’s  _ supposed _ to go wrong,” Adora snaps. One of her hands goes up to her Force Captain badge, a strange gesture of reassurance. She runs her thumb along the edges of it, letting it press into her fingers. It’s not comforting, exactly, but it’s nice to remember that she has the badge. “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s a perfect raid just because I’m leading it.”

Glimmer arches an eyebrow at her without saying anything. Adora winces. She’s been trying really hard not to let the whole Force Captain thing go to her head - Glimmer’s words, not hers. Adora kind of thinks she’s allowed to let it go to her head. Not everyone gets to be a Force Captain. This means something. Adora wants it to mean something.

(And, okay, Glimmer’s been  _ really _ annoying about this whole thing. Not just jealous, which is the kind of thing Adora knows how to deal with; she and Glimmer have been cycling between best friends and bitter enemies for their entire lives. There are plenty of digs about whether or not Adora deserves to be Force Captain, but she’s been getting those from everyone.

The problem is that Glimmer has been saying things about the Horde, the kind of things that normally end with people going away. Adora’s been trying her hardest to try and keep that stuff behind closed doors, because she thinks this place would actually be a lot worse if Glimmer were gone. But that just means that Adora gets to hear every minute of Glimmer’s crises of doubt, and that’s  _ horrible. _ It feels some days like she’s holding a bomb, and she doesn’t know why Glimmer keeps giving her the detonator.)

“Nothing’s supposed to go wrong,” Adora repeats, with more confidence than she actually feels. “What could even go wrong? They don’t have a princess, and nobody’s seen Queen Angella in action in a long time. That alliance of theirs is falling apart. It’s the perfect time for us to take a runestone.”

“If you say so,” Glimmer says. There’s something underneath there, simmering beneath the surface, and maybe if it were another day Adora would ask about it. Glimmer is avoiding her eyes. She keeps looking at where the Force Captain badge is pinned to Adora’s jacket.

And if it were another day, Adora would drag her to a quiet corner and ask about it. She’d listen to Glimmer rant and yell, and then they’d spar or something, and then they’d be fine again. But today is the most important day of Adora’s life. It’s a day where she gets to be a little selfish about this. She’s a Force Captain now; she has to think of the Horde, and by extension herself.

“I do say so,” Adora says. And that’s the end of it.

Glimmer turns away from her. Adora rolls her eyes. What a baby.

#

2.

It would be so much less annoying if the siege failed, Glimmer thinks. It would be  _ so much less annoying _ if Adora were wrong about things sometimes.

And, sure, Adora’s been wrong about plenty of things. But she tends to be irritatingly right about the things that matter. She’d plotted a way through the Whispering Woods, not one that could get a huge squadron through but still a path that could get them into Bright Moon. It was a simple mission: steal the runestone.

The siege starts off well, which is the other problem. It’s them and a dozen other people, all dressed in plainclothes and blending in just fine with everyone else from Bright Moon. A couple of people stare at them, but Glimmer pulls her hood up, and that seems to help.

“Hoods up make you more suspicious,” Adora whispers to her.

Glimmer rolls her eyes. “It feels like people are staring,” she complains. “And I can still see where we’re going.”

The Moonstone is on a giant, gleaming pedestal in the middle of the city. It would be remarkably hard to miss. By the time they get to the base of it, Glimmer’s feet are screaming in pain, and she’s exhausted, and Adora keeps just  _ grinning _ the way she does and it’s driving Glimmer insane.

Adora reaches into her pack and pulls out two of the grappling hooks. “Ready?”

“Aren’t you afraid of heights or something?” Glimmer mutters as she takes the hook. Of course Adora isn’t afraid of heights, because Adora might be tiny but she doesn’t have any real weaknesses or fears. But Glimmer likes heights, in a way that Adora doesn’t. The weight of the grappling hook in her hand is comforting and solid.

Adora doesn’t bother answering, just takes aim towards the top of the pedestal. Glimmer sighs, takes a moment to hope that these’ll get them far up enough that they don’t have to climb a lot, and fires her grappling hook.

There are guards that start shouting right away, but that’s why Hordak gave them a squadron. The point of this mission is Adora and Glimmer, and that’s nice to remember as Glimmer flies up through the air. She managed to hook onto a spot higher up on the pedestal than Adora,  _ ha, _ so it’s a short climb to the top.

The Moonstone is massive. Glimmer has never seen a runestone in person, other than the couple of times she’s glimpsed the Black Garnet, but this one seems even bigger. The light reflects off of it in strange ways, and she’s entranced by it, just her and the stone.

“Whoa,” Adora says, which brings Glimmer back down to earth. “I was, uh…”

“Thought it’d be smaller?” Glimmer says, unable to keep some of the smugness out of her voice. “What exactly was our escape plan?”

Adora shoots Glimmer a dirty look. The light from the Moonstone bounces off the Force Captain badge, nearly blinding her. “I had an escape plan.”

“Whatever,” Glimmer sighs. “We should see if we can lift it, and then we can deal with carrying it.”

“We’re not going to carry it,” Adora says, as though it’s obvious. She produces a chisel from her pocket. “We’re going to break it.”

Glimmer stares at her. “Are you crazy?”

“We just have to disable it, right?”

“We’re not supposed to break the runestones! We’re supposed to take them to the Fright Zone to be studied!”

“And whether or not they can be repaired is a great thing to study.”

Adora takes a step towards the Moonstone, and Glimmer doesn’t think before shifting in front of it. “We can’t do that.”

“You going to stop me?” Adora takes a step closer, and Glimmer instinctively takes a step back. “Come on, Glim, we both know how this is going to end.”

“I’m not going to let you break it,” Glimmer says, but she can feel panic rising. Adora’s pretty good in hand-to-hand combat. She’s not bad herself, sure, but Adora doesn’t need to take Glimmer out. She just needs to get past her.

“You’re not going to let me,” Adora repeats, an odd, mocking edge to her voice. Glimmer takes a step back and nearly gasps when she feels her back press up against the Moonstone. That’s not good. “What are you going t- Glimmer?”

Glimmer blinks. Her back feels weird.

She lifts a hand in front of her face. It doesn’t look as… solid as it’s supposed to. Normally hands are pretty indisputably solid, but hers is turning pink and vague around the edges. She can see where her fingers are supposed to be, but she can’t make out any individual ones. Her entire body feels staticky, like her limbs are falling asleep - no, she realizes, that’s not right. Like her limbs are waking up.

“Adora?” she says, voice wavering. When she tears her eyes away from her hand, Adora is staring at her in something like horror. “What’s going on?”

“You,” Adora says. “You- Glimmer-”

“What’s happening?” Her voice cracks in desperation. She doesn’t want to be here. She doesn’t want to be here. She wants-

A small voice in her head says,  _ you want to be together again. _

Glimmer doesn’t know what that means, but she knows that it must be better than being right here, feeling this new kind of electricity inside her. So she chases that feeling, and barely has time to regret it when everything in front of her explodes into pink glitter.

#

3.

Catra should’ve seen this coming. It’s all she can think from the second she hears the alarm: she should’ve known. One day, they were going to figure out how to get through the Whispering Woods, and Catra had thought that she’d be ready for that day. She thought that she’d have enough warning.

“You couldn’t have known,” Angella says, which would be nice except for the part where it’s Catra’s job to know. You don’t get to be the general of a rebellion by not knowing things. And now she’s locked in the war room with the queen and no idea when they’re going to be able to get out.

Catra sighs. Now’s not the time to get mad at Angella. “What are we going to do?”

Angella tilts her head. “It depends on the aftermath.”

“The aftermath,” Catra repeats. Angella has been nothing but kind to her as she worked her way up through the ranks. Catra still isn’t used to the kind of compassion that she’s receiving, but Angella is… tired, in ways that can only breed bitterness or compassion. And luckily, despite her losses, Angella chose the latter. It’s the kind of thing Catra could never have the grace to do herself.

“They’re targeting the runestone,” Angella murmurs, probably to herself. Catra’s stomach clenches; there’s so much potential for things to go badly if they get their hands on the runestone. Angella doesn’t use its powers much, but she does use them. “They’re-”

She cuts herself off with a gasp. Catra looks over sharply, just in time to see Angella stagger a couple of steps back. “Angella?”

“Glimmer,” Angella gasps, and Catra’s claws slide out, and then a girl pops into existence in front of her.

Catra freezes.

Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon went missing when she was just a toddler. She’s been missing for over a decade, presumed dead. It was a devastating blow, followed by the death of the king not long afterwards. Catra doesn’t remember any of it, but she sees the way it affects Angella every single day. She’s seen the grief firsthand.

She’s also seen the pictures of Princess Glimmer as a toddler. And while a decade changes a person, the young woman in front of her has the same eyes.

“What,” Catra says slowly.

Glimmer - it has to be her, how else would she have the Moonstone’s powers? - whips around, looking frantically between Angella and Catra. “Wh- how did I get here?”

“What are you doing,” Catra says sharply. Angella is still staring, perfectly still, not that Catra could possibly blame her. “Where did you come from?”

“Am I  _ inside the palace? _ ”

“Were you at the Moonstone?” Something sinks in Catra’s chest. “Are you with the Horde?”

“The Horde,” Glimmer repeats, and lunges forward, grabbing one of Catra’s hands in both of hers. Catra hisses and goes to pull back, but she’s stronger than she looks; she holds steady. “You have to help me, they’re trying to break the Moonstone.”

“You don’t want to break the Moonstone?”

“We’re not supposed to,” Glimmer says exasperatedly. “And besides it- it just- I don’t know what it did, I was up there and now I’m in here and my entire body feels like it’s on fire but the fire is  _ pink _ and-”

“Glimmer,” Angella says abruptly. “Breathe.”

Glimmer turns. “How do you know my name?”

“We’ll discuss that later,” Angella says, and Catra scoffs despite herself. Angella’s eyes sharpen. “General.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Catra mutters, feeling chastised despite herself. “Listen, there’s a lot going on that we don’t have time to explain if your Horde buddies are trying to break the Moonstone. We need to get back up there, stat, and then we can do the whole… whatever this is going to be.”

Glimmer’s eyes narrow. “You know something.”

“You know a lot of things about the Horde, we know a couple things about you. We’ll call it a fair trade, if you can help us keep the Moonstone in one piece.”

“I don’t-” she swallows. “The Horde is going to know I betray them.”

“You’ll stay here,” Angella says. There’s a note in her voice that Catra has never heard before, tight and restrained and full to bursting with love. “We can work out the details after you’ve ensured the Moonstone’s safety. General Catra, can you go with her?”

“Of course.” Catra looks at Glimmer, who’s biting her lip. “Hey, sparkles.”

Her eyes flash. “It’s Glimmer.”

“Well, pardon me,” Catra drawls. “You know how you got down here? Now you’ve gotta get both of us back up there.”

“I don’t know how to do that.”

“Sure you do.” She lifts a hand to Glimmer’s shoulder to brace herself. “You know how you were talking about pink fire? Think about that pink fire being next to the Moonstone. Or whatever Horde buddy was with you up there.”

Glimmer takes a deep breath and squeezes Catra’s wrist. Catra only has time to glance at Angella for a moment, to see her lift a hand to her mouth, before everything dissolves into pink glitter. It feels different than the handful of times she’s done this with Angella, namely because they appear a foot off the ground and crash down gracelessly.

Catra gets to her feet before Glimmer. There’s a blonde girl there - kind of pretty, staring at them in shock, chisel held up near the Moonstone. That last part is going to be a problem.

She pops her claws out and offers up a lazy smile. “Hi there,” she says. “I’ve heard you’re here to cause problems. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen. No hard feelings?”

The blonde girl lifts her chisel, lets out a yell, and lunges towards her. Catra feels her smile tug itself into a sharp grin, and pounces.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on Tumblr and Twitter @waveridden!


End file.
